smith



(No Model.)

1-1. J. SMITH. FENDER FOR STREET RAILWAY CARS.

No. 517,894. Patented Apr. 10, 1894.

' UNITED STATES PAT NT OFFICE.

ELDRIDGE J. SMITH, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF' COLUMBIA.

FEN DER FO R STREET- RAILWAY CARS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 517,894, dated April 10, 1894.

Application filed December 18, 1893. erial No. 493,919- (No model.)

To aZZ whom it may concern.

Beit known that I,ELDRIDGE J. SMITH, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wash-v ington, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Fenders for Street-Railway Cars; and I do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled, in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to guards for preventing accidents on railway cars and other vehicles, and consists in the noveldeviceshere; inafter described and specified and pointed out in the claims.

In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 represents a vertical section of the front end of a car with my improvements attached thereto.

Fig. 2 represents a front view witha series of hinge fingers connected with the front end of the car. Fig. 3 represents a top view of an elastic apron hinged to a bed plate or sill of a car, and Figs. 4 and 5 are details.

Accidents to pedestrians on streets in which cable and other powerfulmotors are employed are very common, and a general demand for preventive devices is earnest and persistent; to supply this demand is the object of my invention.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings the letter A indicates rods or bars bent upward at each end to which the cross bars A, are secured and to which is pivoted shifting rods 0. These shifting rods are pivoted at their rear ends to upright levers E, by which they are moved back and forth at will or by automatic action, as hereinafter described.

The letter B represents brackets attached to the car beams at their upper ends, while their lower ends are perforated to receive the rods A as shown. It is obvious that several of these brackets are required in attaching my improvements to a railway car.

The levers E are pivoted at their lower ends to a bed plate of the car,while the upper end of one is extended and secured near the brakemans position between the car beam and a spring plate F. This plate is open at its front end to provide a ready entrance for the lever while its rear end is secured to the car by screw bolts. To provide for speedy additional tension, or the reverse thereof upon the lever when required, I attach a wrench G to a nut of the front bolt, to be operated at will. Both the wrench and lever may be operated by a brakemans foot. This device 'is well represented in Fig. 5 of the drawings.

Instead of the spring tension plate F, I sometimes employ a spring connected with a beam or floor of the car and the lever E, to hold it in position, or I may use a counterbalancing weight on the cross bar A to good advantage. I preferably employ two sets of levers, Erfingers D and connecting rods, 0 one of the levers extending upward through the floor of the car to connect with the tension spring. 1 g

In Fig. 3, letter H, I have represented an elastic apron the main portion of which is preferably constructed of slats through which spring wires are passed. S0 made flexible to permit buckling up when a fixed obstruction is encountered. The slats are kept apart by a series of coiled wires in the manner shown. To the front end of this apron I attach a rubber spring plate, marked L on the drawings, andthe entire apron is connected with the lower end of lever E by means of an angle iron attached to said lever, to which the rear end of the apron is secured by suitable bolts.

The fabric I have described for my elastic apron is not the only material of which such aprons may be made. An apron of rubber cloth suitably arranged would answer a good purpose, as also might awire netting or other substances that are flexible; even an apron constructed of boards or other material not flexible would. answer a good purpose when used in connection with the devices herein shown and described. I,

In the drawings Fig. 4 is shown a pair of wheels marked I that are arranged beneath the apron; they are connected by an axle thatpasses throughthem and alsothrough a standard or supporting beam, marked N. This supporting beam is made secure in the apron by passing one ofthe fabric wires through it in the manner shown in Fig. 4. These rollers serve to keep the apron off the ground.

In Fig. 2, I haveillustrated a series of pivoted and bent spring fingers marked D, at tached at their upper ends to rod 0 while their lower ends are bent rearward in a hook form, as shown. Thesefingers, being hinged or pivoted on the top cross bar A, can swing outwardly with freedom and without moving the other portions of my device. This is an important provision when the motion of the car is reversed and the said hinged fingers come in contact with any obstruction,-because on such occasions they are moved outwardly and pass over such obstruction as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1. It is obvious that several good substitutes may be obtained for these fingers, such as a sheet of wire netting, rubber, cloth, and even the slat and wire fabric described for my apron. I do not therefore confine myself to the use of these fingers only, but shallinsist that any material that can be made to serve the functions of said fingers are fair equivalents thereof. Straight, pendent fingers would serve a good purpose, instead of bent ones.

In operation, when a car strikes a man or other obstruction, it is always with the fingers D. These fingers immediately yield and move backward as shown in dotted lines on Fig. 1, thereby forcing the lever E forward and tripping the apron until its front rubber end would rest upon the ground, were it not for the interposition of the small wheels underneath it. The man, or whatever may obstruct the car, is then taken up tenderly on the rubber plate and passed to the rearward upon the apron in safety. In case the automatic apparatus should fail to work readily, the brakeman may release the lever E by foot or hand; but ordinarily the apparatus will do the work automatically and will require no brakemans aid. It will be observed that when an object comes in contact with the fingers D, the tension of the spring F upon the lever E will retardits movement until it shall have passed the point of said tension spring, when the movement of the apparatus will be free, and the front edge of the apron H will drop to the ground by its gravity.

I claim as my invention 1. A flexible apron so made flexible to permit buckling up when a fixed obstruction is encountered provided with a flexible edge L, and hinged to the sill of a carin combination with hinged fingers D andconnecting rods 0 substantially for the purpose specified.

2. The levers E provided with an angle iron at their lower end in combination with an apron H, rods, 0 and fingers D or their equivalents, substantially as specified.

3. The wheels I secured to the standard N, in combination with the apron H, substantially as specified.

4. In fenders for street railway cars, the lever E in combination with friction spring F, the latter arranged for holding and releasing the said lever and wrench G for varying the amount of tension of spring F, substantially as set forth.

In testimony whereof Iafiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

ELDRIDGE J. SMITH. 

